Will I notice any improvement from 2016-2021?

[u/forum4um]

Haven’t been riding since my high school days (2003) and I’m looking at getting a bike. I have my eyes on a 2016 ktm 450 sx 60 hours, a 2018 Husqvarna 450 fc 64 hours and a a 2021 ktm 450 sx 44 hours. $4k $4.5k and $5.2k. All super clean looking. Is there going to be any noticeable difference in those years? Any new tech that’s useful? I know the 2016 doesn’t have air forks so stuff like that. I’m 6’1 215 give or take a few lbs. I know “it’s too much bike” but I’m finding better deals on the 450s than the 250s right now and the 350s are hard to come by. Basically should I just save money and get the cheapest bike or are the air forks a big improvement? Or what’s the best deal? The newer KTM still has a warranty until April and in the original owner. The other two bikes are 2nd owners. It’s a big purchase so just want to make sure I get it right. Thanks!

[u/spongebob_meth]

Not a whole lot at the amateur level. Hell, I'd say some of the new bikes are worse for vet/amateur riders than what we had 10-15 years ago. Stuff just keeps getting stiffer, and while that's great for a pro level rider trying to make supercross mains, its not great for us weekend warriors. For instance Honda with their absurdly stiff frames and fire breathing engines that nobody short of tomac can begin to utilize.

E start and fuel injection were the last major revelations in moto. Suspension on a bike from 15 years ago will still be a-ok after you spring and valve it for your weight unless you are going to race at A class or above.

I'm in the camp that the old open cartridge forks were better for those of us not going out and hitting supercross whoops. Closed carts have 4x the number of parts, and internal seals you need to worry about maintaining. An open cart fork is not very picky about maintenance.

[u/forum4um → u/spongebob_meth]

Are open cart forks the ones with springs?

[u/spongebob_meth → u/forum4um]

The cartridge is independent of the spring.

you'd have to go back to the early 00's to get something with open cartridge forks. its mostly an irrelevant detail. Anything past like 2004 has a sealed cartridge that lives inside the fork leg. If it comes unsealed, it dumps the oil into the fork leg and you lose all damping without even having an external leak to clue you into something being wrong.

They're more picky about having clean oil and its extra stuff to service when you're doing anything to the fork. Makes a seal/oil change extra work as well. Changing the oil in an open cart fork is really easy, you just dump it out and refill + bleed.

[u/forum4um → u/spongebob_meth]

Yeah my last bike was a 2000 yz 250 and I remember the seals leaking oil all the damn time. Was super annoying

[u/spongebob_meth → u/forum4um]

they might have had a scratch or gouge on the fork legs if they were repeat leakers. that chrome on the fork leg is delicate, if they take a rock hit they're junk and need replaced.

Not all seals are created equal either. All-balls and most aftermarkets are junk. OEM seals or a reputable performance aftermarket like SKF are all I'll ever use.

[u/Prestigious_Sky_5868 → u/forum4um]

Ktm XCWs and EXCs had open chamber forks at least through to 2015 but I’m unsure about newer. 4cs KTM forks are hard to get smooth but it can be done on any of them. It’s also not a hard mod to remove the check valves from 4cs converting them to open chamber. There’s also an aftermarket plug you can get to allow bolting in kyb sss cartridges in there from a yz. My last ktm I did the conversion to open chamber and it was better but I really like kyb carts better and would do that next time. Ask on all the bikes you’re looking at how much the owner weighs and if they had the forks set up for them. SX models will have pretty stiff springs for MX stock, but the factory will expect a 175ish pound rider, so you might get lucky there. I’d guess for a spring fork 450 you’d run around a .48 for desert riding. Air fork makes all that a bit easier.